Surgical needles and attached surgical sutures are well known in the art. Surgical needles and sutures are packaged in a variety of packages for delivery of the needles and sutures to the surgeon. The packages need to have a number of important characteristics including ease of loading, ease of dispensing, and protection of the needle and suture during handling, sterilization, shipping and storage. Tray-type packages having a peripheral channel for receiving a suture are commonly used to package needles and suture combinations. The tray packages have a number of advantages. For example, the packages are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and are typically molded from biocompatible, inert polymeric materials. The track packages provide excellent protection to the sutures during processing, sterilization, shipment and storage. The packages are easy to handle by the surgical staff, and sutures are easy to withdraw from the tray packages in a consistent manner without tangles or lock-ups. One particular advantage of tray packages is their ease of suture loading in high speed, automated packaging processes. Examples of tray packages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,135,272, 6,047,815, 6,644,469, and 8,011,499. Tray packages are typically made with moveable doors or members that cover the top of the track to prevent the suture from moving out of the track.
Surgical sutures are packaged in tray packages by using conventional winding fixtures. The fixture typically has a rotatable base with mounting pins. A tray package is mounted on the base and pins such that the top of the tray package is facing upwardly. Then a winding stylus mounted to a winding head directs a length of suture down into a track of the suture tray as the tray rotates so that the suture is placed in the track in a uniform manner. Examples of such winding fixtures and styluses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,660,024, 5,664,404, 6,804,937, and 6,463,719.
Although conventional winding fixtures and styluses perform adequately for their intended use, there may be deficiencies associated with such winding fixtures. For example, a stylus in a conventional winding fixture is rigidly mounted to the winding fixture and this does not allow for variations in the dimensions of tray packages resulting in potentially improper placement of the sutures in the track of the package. In addition, a stylus is typically engaged with a winding head via a bearing. As the bearing wears with time, the bearing wear may result in loosening of the stylus in the mounting assembly, which may also result in improper suture placement.
There is a need in this art for novel winding styluses for use in automated suture tray winding machines that overcome the deficiencies of the prior art.